


Counting Bodies Like Sheep

by Adel Mortescryche (Mortescryche)



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Absent Characters, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Edward Elric, BAMF Roy Mustang, Big Brother Edward Elric, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Homunculus Roy Mustang, Light Angst, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Partial Mind Control, Politics, Team as Family, following orders, is that what you call it when someone's possessed by a homunculus spirit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-03-28
Packaged: 2019-04-14 07:13:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14130858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mortescryche/pseuds/Adel%20Mortescryche
Summary: Wrath’s voice in his head is… strange, in that it doesn’t really change him. It made him irate almost all of the time, like heat simmering beneath his skin. It made him beholden to Father’s whims in a way that was infuriating all on its own; enough so that he could understand why Bradley had taken a wife. Good images aside, it gave him a life outside of the homunculi’s machinations. It’s almost enough to make him pity his predecessor. Wrath makes him more impulsive – which probably isn’t a good thing, seeing as his specific brand of alchemy was on a hair trigger as is.---Bradley becomes a liability early on during the Ishval War, and is taken out by Envy on the orders of Father. Roy is converted into the Homunculus of Wrath against his will.No one is happy about this.





	Counting Bodies Like Sheep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OnceABlueMoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnceABlueMoon/gifts).



> Happy Birthday again, Blue! Seeing as this _is_ , technically, your birthday present. Being crossposted to AO3 far too late. *laughs wryly*
> 
> I'm not adding a separate trigger warnings section on this one, because I believe the tags do a good enough job all on their own! Keep in mind, however, that Roy has a _lot_ less independence than Greeling did.
> 
> The title is, of course, from A Perfect Circle's excellent song, _Counting Bodies Like Sheep_.

There are few things that Roy remembers from… before. It’s easier to have forgotten, really, it’s been long enough that he wishes he didn’t remember anything at all.

He doesn’t exist in limbo, though. Not with Maes and Riza and the others still sticking by his side, even after the oddness of how just how quickly he’d been fast-tracked onto a path that would lead him straight to Fuhrer. The only reason he’s not already sitting in the seat is that it would’ve been too damned suspicious for him to have earned it as quickly as he had. Especially after their previous Fuhrer had been taken down under suspicious circumstances during the war.

_Good riddance,_ Maes had muttered, squeezing his shoulder at the funeral. It had taken every fucking bit of sentimentality and love he had for his best friend to not give into the rage that had reared its ugly head in his gut, demanding that he snap his fingers and roast the other man alive where he stood.

Roy had disappeared with the Fuhrer, and another state alchemist on the ground. The other ‘state alchemist’ had been Envy, obviously, there to take out Bradley. Roy had been dragged along in the crossfire, a convenient body that they’d sacrificed to have a useful pawn. Nowhere near as good as what had been done to Bradley and others that had been picked and groomed for the role, according to Pride, but still better than the common stock.

He wished every day that he’d been more common than not. He doesn’t remember what it felt like to not feel fury singing through his veins at every waking moment, almost like a call to arms. Something tells him that he’d been calmer, more prone to humor before. Maes certainly seemed to think so, he cracked more jokes than necessary, constantly trying to get Roy to ‘lighten up’. When that didn’t work, he tried plying Roy with good whiskey in hopes that that would work instead, much to Gracia’s amusement with them both.

It didn’t.

Wrath’s voice in his head is…  _strange,_ in that it doesn’t really change him. It made him irate almost all of the time, like heat simmering beneath his skin. It made him beholden to Father’s whims in a way that was infuriating all on its own; enough so that he could understand why Bradley had taken a wife. Good images aside, it gave him a life outside of the homunculi’s machinations. It’s almost enough to make him pity his predecessor. Wrath makes him more  _impulsive_  – which probably isn’t a good thing, seeing as his specific brand of alchemy was on a hair trigger as is.

It also gave him a much higher physical prowess than before. Father himself thought it best to avoid the saber; that had always been Bradley’s signature, after all. Roy had found his mouth opening to confess that Maes would  _definitely_ smell the rat if Roy took up the sword at any point. The battle of wills that followed  _that_ confession had nearly ended in an order for Maes’ death. Roy suspected the only reason it didn’t was because Father had gotten bored. And hadn’t felt like breaking in a new minion quite yet.

So Roy had stuck to hand to hand combat, training himself slowly over the years until people started noticing a definite shift in his abilities. Riza had found it… amusing. But also relieving, since he’d finally addressed the one thing that had left him vulnerable in a fight if anything ever happened to his spark gloves.

Pride had jokingly suggested that he tattoo his arrays onto the backs of his hands, like Kimbley had before him.  ~~Wrath~~ Roy had smiled back at him politely, holding onto the urge to burn his elder brother to a crisp for even suggesting that option.

Oh, the other homunculi, his  _siblings,_ all knew exactly how to get a rise out of him.

About the only good thing that had come of his situation was the fact that he’d been given free rein to protect the Elric brothers in their quest. Roy had taken one look at their home, another at Ed and Al and had  _known._ Known that they were sacrifices. He hadn’t known them, not then, not yet, but he’d known that they would be important.

In retrospect, it just figured that Al would be the first to find out.

Roy felt a tired smile tug at his lips as he walked closer to the boy, the hulking height of his armor notwithstanding. He was almost quivering in place; Roy suspected he might have been crying if he hadn’t been stuck as a soul tied to metal.

“Sir. Sir, please-  _Brigadier-General-”_

“Orders are orders, Al,” he murmured, crossing the shallow water between them in what must have felt like the blink of an eye.

The kid screamed, and tried to get his hands up in defense to protect the girl hiding within him.

It wouldn’t be enough. Not against Roy. It hadn’t been enough at Ishval, it wouldn’t be enough now. Nothing ever was, anymore.

*

“You,” spat Ed later on, slamming his way into Roy’s office, “made my brother  _cry.”_

Roy glanced up slowly from his paperwork, raising the single visible brow he had left to his name. He wasn’t sure what his face must have been radiating, but whatever it might have been, Ed scowled and slammed the door shut behind him.

Not that that would be enough to quell the curiosity of his team. It was enough to make Roy sigh, leaning back in his seat and lifting a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“Did it occur to you, Fullmetal, that it might have been better to  _not_ approach me after I made you brother cry?”

That it might have been better to not approach him at all, really. Because, this? Complicated things. Why did his subordinates have to be such reckless fools. Even when they didn’t have all the facts. Maybe especially then.

Fullmetal just snorted, though, not even bothering to sit down, instead towering over Roy’s desk, waiting until Roy actually looked up at him again. When Roy  _did_ look up, he was met with a splendid sneer that made Ed’s face screw up to an amusing extent.

He had to hide his smirk with some real effort. The Elric brothers never disappointed, did they.

“Wow. You’re not even fucking denying it, are you, fuckface.”

“Language.”

“You’re a fucking- you’re a  _homunculus,_ you killed Al’s friend, you made him cry, and you’re telling me to mind my  _language?”_ Ed asked incredulously, making Roy roll his eyes.

“When you put it that way, it certainly sounds ridiculous. No, not so loud,  _Edward.”_ he raised his voice in warning, eyes going narrow in his head when Ed tried to protest. Roy’s use of his name must have registered even if the tone hadn’t, because he subsided immediately, if with a scowl.

“Edward,” he repeated, trying to gentle his voice, “this is older than you, and a whole lot more complicated than it looks on the surface. You… really shouldn’t have come here. Not about this.”

“Why? You gonna kill me too?”  _bastard,_ went unsaid. Roy stared him down, unflinching, even when Ed’s hands fisted on top of the desk.

When he didn’t get an actual, verbal response, Ed shifted in place, uncomfortable. And still visibly angry. Wrath’s temper ticking away inside him sat up just a little, beginning to take notice, but Roy tamped it down. It was thankfully willing to listen, for once. It always had been, when it came to Ed and Al. Maybe it was because they were children, maybe it was because they were sacrifices, maybe it was because Ed…

“I,” he said after a long, taut moment, “have killed many a man, woman and child in my time.  _Many,_ Fullmetal. Not because I’ve wanted to, but because I was under orders to do so, and most of those times, I couldn’t say no.”

“That’s  _bullcrap-”_ Ed cut in, incensed, but his mouth shut with a click when Roy brought an open palm down on the surface of the desk, the sharp sound easily cutting through the stillness of the room.

“I,” Roy repeated,  _sotto voce,_ “Couldn’t say no. And that’s exactly what’s going to happen here if you don’t keep your mouth shut and  _listen.”_

Wonder of wonders, the boy actually listened. Looked particularly mulish while doing so, but he didn’t look like he was going to cut in again. Deciding that that warranted at least  _some_ give on his part, Roy tugged off his eye patch with a sigh, blinking a few times and rubbing around the socket until the tight feeling lessened. When he glanced back at Ed, the ouroboros mark bare on his face, the boy was staring back at him with narrowed eyes.

“If we’re not really fucking careful, we’re both going to die.” He said, bland, a hard smile slitting across his face when Ed started at the swearing. “Because we’re both expendable at this point, Edward, you less so than me. So drag a seat up close, and tell me what you know.”

*

He might not remember much of what he used to be, before. But one thing he did remember was that Roy Mustang might have been a dog, but he sure as hell didn’t bow down in front of people who wanted to kill his people.

Wrath didn’t change that. Wrath just made him hit faster and harder. Wrath didn’t lie to Father, no, but it allowed Roy to get away with leaving certain things unspoken. Wrath hated being used about as much as Roy did, really, and where Bradley had been trained to take it, Roy certainly hadn’t. Conspiracy apparently ran in all their bloodstreams, waiting to stick it to their creator.

The first time he met Greed after he and the Xingan Prince figured themselves out, the other sin laughed and laughed and laughed. Long and hard. Much to Ed’s exasperation.

Roy just smirked through the red veil falling over his vision, and tried not to kill the fool on the spot.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this little ficlet, all! I might choose to return to it at some point, because the idea was _very_ inspiring when I first wrote it. I simply didn't have the time to flesh it out into something longer, back then. And when I do have the time to write, now, I usually try to push that energy towards my ongoing multichapter YOIxSAO crossover fic, AHoB.
> 
> **Consider leaving kudos and comments!** I would love to discuss this idea with anyone who's up for it. Homunculi AUs are always so fascinating, especially once you begin thinking about how they would change a character, and what facets of personality remain behind in spite of the change. Does this feel like a good take on Wrath? Or maybe I should ask, does this feel like a good take on Roy as Wrath. And how about Ed? *grins*
> 
> \---
> 
> Next in line to be posted: a sidestory for my multichapter SAOxYOI crossover, [A Heart of Blades](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10506549). This'll be a brand new post.
> 
> You can find me **[@adelmortescryche](https://adelmortescryche.tumblr.com/)** \- come by and say hi! I don't bite.


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